2021-05-17
Ephesians 3:20 NKJV
Next time you see a big oak tree, remind yourself that it began as a tiny acorn. What you have to offer today may seem small, but when God blesses it, it can grow.
In 1912, Dr. Russell Conwell, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia, told about a Sunday school student named Hattie May Wiatt. Because of overcrowding, Dr. Conwell had told Hattie May he would love to have buildings large enough for everyone to attend. When Hattie May became ill and died, Conwell was asked to preach at her funeral. The girl’s mother told him Hattie May had been saving her money to help build a bigger church. Hattie’s purse contained coins amounting to fifty-seven cents. Conwell exchanged them for fifty-seven pennies, which he put on display and “sold.” With the proceeds, a nearby house was purchased for a children’s wing for the church. Inspired by Hattie’s story, more money came in, and out of her fifty-seven cents eventually came the buildings of Temple Baptist Church, Temple University, and Good Samaritan Hospital.
Perhaps you feel your gifts, your time, your talents, and your efforts are too small to make a difference. But when you give them completely to God and ask Him to bless them, you discover that He’s both a great mathematician and a great multiplier. He can take your words, your endeavors, and your resources and multiply them beyond anything you can imagine. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (v. 20 NKJV).
Soul food: Lev 23:15-22; Acts 2:1-18
2021-05-16
1 John 4:18 NKJV
You would be surprised how many people, even successful ones, struggle each day with unexpressed fears. Maybe you’re one of them. The Bible says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). Now if our fears don’t come from God, where do they come from?
Different sources: (1) The way you were programmed growing up in your family. (2) Overdosing each day on the news, 99 percent of which is negative. (3) Satan. The point is, your fears don’t come from God.
Recognizing the true source of your fears is the first step to overcoming them. And God has given you a powerful weapon with which to defeat them: “Perfect love casts out fear.” You say, “Yes, perhaps if I loved God more perfectly, I wouldn’t be so afraid.” No, you’ve got the cart before the horse. Try as you might, you could never love God perfectly. There’s only one “perfect love,” and that’s His love for you. And it’s unconditional, bought and paid for by Jesus Christ when He died for you on the cross.
Having a revelation of the unmerited, undeserved, unearned love, grace, and Favour of God toward you will enable you to rise up and begin to “cast out” fear, anxiety, doubt, guilt, condemnation, and worry. God’s love for you is not based on your performance, but on Christ’s. When you trust in Christ’s performance instead of your own, you are “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). And when you have the assurance of that, you know you also have the power to “cast out” your fears.
Soul food: Exo 17:1-7; John 4:1-42
2021-05-15
Ephesians 1:5 TLB
In the Bible God commands us to love one another. Interestingly, He doesn’t command us to like one another. And that’s a good thing because you can love someone and not like certain things about them.
Paul writes, “We are his workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10). The word “workmanship” comes from the Greek word poiéma from which we get the word poetry. And poetry is a diversified and creative thing; it comes in many forms. That’s why the Bible says God works through different people in different ways (See 1 Corinthians 12:6). He uses all kinds of people, including the ones we may not like or want to work with.
“A spiritual gift is given to each of us” (1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT), and it’s up to us to discover and develop it. “Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving” (Ephesians 4:12 NCV). The word “prepare” is also interesting. It comes from a medical term in the original Greek. Doctors used it to describe the process of setting a broken bone.
Stop and look around you today. Have you ever seen so many broken hearts, broken homes, broken dreams, and broken lives? And if we who claim to be followers of Christ do our job right, they will find help and healing. God uses us to minister to one another, love one another, honour one another, and carry one another’s burdens.
When you think about it, the church is God’s treatment center for everything that ails us. And if you keep that in mind, it will help you to love and get along with people you don’t necessarily like.
Soul food: Heb 5-8; Mark 9:30-37; Ps 18:30-50; Prov 11:22
2021-05-14
Genesis 28:16 NIV
Jacob lived life on the fast track doing business deals and making lots of money, unlike David who was on the slow track tending a flock of sheep in his pasture. But notice what each of them said about God. “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.'” On the other hand, David said: “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure” (Psalm 16:7-9 NIV).
Notice the difference? Jacob was so busy that he failed to recognize God’s voice or cultivate an awareness of His presence. But David said, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Those words are perhaps the simplest and best definition of spiritual life. The Bible says, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
You say, “What does that mean to me?” It means that the indwelling Christ can think His thoughts through you. Isn’t that wonderful? When you have a feeling of reassurance, or a sense of guidance, or you feel the conviction of sin, it means God is present with you. So pay attention and honour His presence by responding to Him. Perhaps you’ve always wondered what it means to “walk with God.” Now you know.
Soul food: Heb 1-4; Mark 9:14-29; Ps 18:1-29; Prov 11:19-21
2021-05-13
Luke 5:3 NLT
Do you want God to bless your business? Invite Him into it! Allow Him to use your business to do His business. Peter did that. He had a fishing boat, and one day he invited Jesus on board so He could use it to preach to the crowd on the shore. And it paid off! Afterward Jesus worked a miracle that caused Peter’s boat to be so full of fish it almost sank. With Jesus on board, you’ll prosper.
“Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God” (Revelation 1:5-6). In Bible times priests worked in the church while the kings went out and did battle. And when they won, they brought back the spoils to finance the work of God. So if you’re in the business end of things, you’re a “king,” and because you’re God’s redeemed child, He will teach you how to prosper (See Isaiah 48:17 NKJV).
But there’s one condition; when He does, you must be willing to help finance His plan for reaching the world with the gospel (See Matthew 24:14). You should consider that an honour and an opportunity, because when you go into business with God, the sky is the limit! Henry Giles, a nineteenth-century preacher, said, “There is no task so low that we may not elevate it; so dull that we may not enliven it if we understand that what we are doing is service to our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So today use your business to do God’s business, and He will bless your business.
Soul food: Titus 1-3; Mark 9:1-13; Ps 150; Prov 11:16-18
2021-05-12
2 Timothy 1:6 CEV
Unless you maintain your enthusiasm, life can wear you down. A job that once challenged you can become monotonous, a relationship that once excited you can grow stale, and a daily walk with God that once inspired you can feel like just going through the motions. The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek word which means “possessed by, or inspired by God.” But how do you stay inspired?
Just as the Israelites gathered fresh manna every morning, you need a daily infusion of God’s Word and God’s Spirit. Paul challenged the Christians in Rome: “Serve the Lord enthusiastically” (Romans 12:11 NLT). And the believers in Galatia: “If someone is eager to do good things…that’s all right” (Galatians 4:18 NLT).
So instead of complaining about all the things you don’t like, realize that the presence and power of God lives within you, and put a smile on your face and a spring in your step. Remember whose kingdom you’re a citizen of. God’s!
Author Sheldon Vanauken says: “The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians – when they are somber…joyless…self-righteous…smug… narrow and repressive.” The Christian life is not meant to be a journey to the grave with the goal of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but a race to the finish line, used up, totally fulfilled, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow! What a ride!” David tells us God lifted him out of a pit of despair, put his feet on solid ground, and gave him a new song (See Psalm 40:1-3).
And hasn’t He done the same for you? So show some enthusiasm!
Soul food: Jonah 1-4; Mark 8:27-38; Ps 62; Prov 11:15
